Nightmares, Promises and an Empty Cookie Jar
by AllyWally101
Summary: Scott is worried about his Four year old brother, Alan who has been having terrible nightmares about monsters. He comes up with a plan to help Alan, but not everything goes the way you want it to. This is the story of an empty cookie jar and a promise that Alan will hold onto for the rest of his life. Scott and Alan sibling fluff. Oneshot


**DISCLAMER- I DO NOT OWN THE THUNDERBIRDS OR ANYONE OR ANY PLACE SEEN IN THIS WORK. THE THUNDERBIRDS BELONG TO THERE RESPECTFUL OWNERS. I MAKE NO CLAME TO THEM.**

**A/N: WELL IT SEEMS THAT I AM ON A THUNDERBIRDS BEND AT THE MOMENT. THIS LITTLE ONE SHOT CAME TO ME EARLY THIS EVENING AND I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON IT SINCE. I HOPE THAT YOU ENJOY MY LITTLE TAKE ON SCOTT AND ALANS RELATIONSHIP. PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK AND IF MY MIND STAYS ON THE MIND SET IT IS ON, YOU MAY SEE MORE THUNDERBIRDS YET!**

**I HOPE YOU ENJOY NIGHTMARES, PROMISES AND AN EMPTY COOKIE JAR.**

* * *

Scott Carpenter Tracy was a strong willed, mature, fearless teenager, who had faced more than a person his age should have, and yet had risen above it all.

But there was one thing that Scott Tracy was absolutely certain would be his down fall.

And that was the Chemistry textbook that was sitting on the table in front of him, staring ominously back, as if it was smirking form the knowledge that it had been able to bring the famous Scott Tracy to his knees. Scott's eyebrows narrowed as he looked at it, he briefly wondered what would happen to it if he were to "accidently" trip, tragically causing the textbook to fly out of his hands in slow motion and fall to its death in the blazing fire that had been lit in the fireplace only minutes before.

But then he thought of his chemistry teacher's face, full of fury, when he showed him the charred and blackened book, and quickly decided that, as much as he wanted to, throwing the book in the fire probably wasn't the best course of action, so instead went back to staring at it. Maybe if his look was fierce enough, the book would be so scared, it would magically make the subject easier to study.

Scott looked back to the question that he was working through and sighed.

His tactic hadn't worked; the question was still impossibly hard.

It was times like this that he wished he was John.

The boy had always loved science and it had always been second nature to him. There had been many occasions where John had actually known the answers to Scott's homework, before anyone else did. Their father had put it down to John's love of the starts, giving him a natural interest in the way the world worked from a very _very _young age, but Scott had a sneaky suspicion that his brothers higher than average intelligence may possibly have something to do with it too.

Unfortunately John was with his father and the next two youngest Tracy's at a convention in New York and he was the one who loved and understood science, not Scott. The eldest Tracy preferred a more practical approach to things, enjoying sport more than anything to do with maths or science. But Scott wanted to go to university and as a result of the course he wanted to study, had to pass this subject.

It was looking more and more likely that Scott would just end up sitting in an office somewhere doing work for his father.

"Scotty?" The Tracy in question looked up to find his youngest brother standing in the doorway looking at him.  
"Alan?" Scott asked. "What are you doing up? I only put you down for your nap half an hour ago."  
"Got scared," was all the four year old said in response.  
"Scared of what Allie?" Scott stood up from his spot, glad of the excuse to leave the reached book on the table and walked over to where Alan was standing. He knelt down so that he was at Alan's height and saw the tear tracks that had made their way down the blonds face.  
"The monsters."  
Scott sighed as it suddenly clicked in his head. "Did you have a nightmare?" he asked softly. Alan nodded, fresh tears coming to his eyes. He buried himself into Scott's waiting arms, a muffled sob escaping his lips.  
"Do you want to talk about it?" Scott asked, holding his brother tightly to his chest. Alan shook his head and buried himself deeper into his brother's safe arms. Scott sighed, this had been the third time this week that Alan had woken from nightmares, not to mention all the ones that he had had the week before. He and his father had come to the conclusion that if they found out what Alan was dreaming about, they would be able to help him. Unfortunately that involved Alan talking about his nightmares, something that he wasn't keen on doing. But it hurt Scott to see his youngest brother so sad and he had made it his mission to make everything in the four year olds life better, and if that meant forcing Alan to talk, then that's what he would do. "I tell you what," Scott said pulling Alan away so that he could see his face. "Grandma made some cookies the other day, why don't we go to the kitchen and grab one, then we can have a little chat, how does that sound?"

The only response that he got was a nod of Alan's head. Scott shot his younger brother a smile, before hoisting him into the air and carrying him to the kitchen. He placed the blond brother on the kitchen bench and started his quest to find Grandma's famous vanilla cookies. He opened the door to the cobbered that the cookie jar normally lived; only to find that it was not there. Frowning to himself, Scott looked in the next place that sprang to mind, but still no cookie jar. This lead to a full on search of the kitchen, he searched high, he searched low but still the cookie jar was nowhere in sight. A very confused and slightly annoyed Scott turned back to face Alan, to find the four year old watching him with interest.

Sighing Scott gave one last scan around the kitchen, he was about to give in and give Alan a slice of pizza that was in the fridge, when his eyes zoomed onto the kitchen sink. Slowly, and cautiously he walked towards the object that he had spied, almost as if he was frightened that the thing would suddenly jump up and attack him. Finally he reached what he was walking towards and held back the annoyed yell that he wanted so desperately to shout. There, in the sink was a rather empty looking cookie jar, the only evidence that anything had been in there at all was three small crumbs that sat on the bottom.  
"Gordon," the eldest Tracy in the room muttered under his breath. He was going to kill that fish!  
"Scotty?" Scott turned to see Alan, frown on his face as he spied the empty jar that his brother was holding. "No cookies?"  
"No cookies," Scott sighed.

His heart broke when he saw the upset look on Alan's face. Sure Scott could have just given the four year old that pizza that he saw in the fridge and he would have been just as happy as he would have been if he had a cookie. But Scott was a Tracy and Tracy's where stubborn, he had promised his youngest brother a cookie and that was what Alan was going to get. An idea popping into his head, Scott marched over to where the cook books where kept and pulled out the one that he was looking for. He then turned to Alan and gave the blond a smile.  
"How about we make our own?"

Alan's face immediately lit up and he nodded enthusiastically. Smiling Scott picked him up and placed him on the floor, and then the two brothers set to work in finding everything that they would need in order to make their own treat.

The reason why they were in the kitchen didn't escape Scott's mind, and as he was helping his brother measure out how much flour they were going to need, he decided to broach the subject.  
"Are you going to tell me what those nightmares are about?" For a moment Scott thought that he wasn't going to get a response as Alan didn't say anything, but soon he started to speak.  
"There are monsters trying to get me," Alan started softly. "And you and daddy won't come and save me."  
Scott's heart sank at these words. The fact that Alan was having nightmares was bad enough, but it was him that was causing Alan all this distress? That worried the teen. He loved his brother very much and would do anything for him. Scott found himself wondering if his brother believed that he would just stand by and watch him be hurt.  
"Alan, I will always come and save you, no matter what, and I know that dad will too. You are our little sprout, and we love you. No monsters are ever going to get you while I'm around." Alan turned to look at him, and Scott took advantage of his brothers sudden full attention. "I promise you that if there are any monsters, no matter where you are or what you are doing, I Scott Carpenter Tracy, your brother will come and save you, even if it is the last thing that I do. Do you understand that?"  
Alan gave a small nod. To many, this would be nothing, but Scott knew his brother and he knew his message had got through. He could see it in his brothers eyes, the dark fog that had been in them for the last few weeks had disappeared. "And anyway," he continued. "There is no such thing as monsters, the only thing that comes close is Virgil, when you wake him up too early in the morning. Now that is what I call scary, forget chemistry."  
Alan gave a chuckle at the mental image of Virgil at seven in the morning, trudging down the stairs, hair sticking up in all directions and clothes on back to front or inside out.

After being instructed by Scott that they had enough flour Alan made a move to put it in the bowl, only for his hand to slip and the flour go everywhere, including over Scott. The eldest Tracy stood there, eyes closed, taking calming breaths and the flour settled around him. He had no doubt that now his hair was either pure white or looked like he had rather bad dandruff and his clothes would look even worse. He opened his eye and looked down at Alan.

The youngest brother looked worried at first, but then that expression began to change and soon Alan was laughing his little head off. "You look funny!" he exclaimed.  
"Oh really?" Scott asked. He grabbed a handful of flour and dumped it over Alan's head. "So do you!"

This continued for a while until both brothers decided that they were rather hungry so they got back to work.

Two hours later, a flour, sugar, icing and egg covered Scott and Alan collapsed on the sofa, there stomach now full of cookies. Scott noticing how sleepy Alan was softly whispered, "Go to sleep Allie, I'll keep the monsters away."

Alan didn't need to be told twice, and soon he was sleeping soundly, no nightmare in sight. Scott found his eyelids begin to drop and he too found himself lost in a wonderful dream that involved his chemistry textbook suddenly being attacked by wild dogs, and he, being only human, powerless to stop it (AKA, he just watched and smiled as his cause for unhappiness was destroyed.)

It was on that sofa that they were found the next day by their father, still fast asleep and covered in half the ingredients that was meant to be in the cookies themselves.

Alan never did have that nightmare again. But whenever he was lost, lonely and scared, he remembered the promise that his brother had made all those years ago and he knew that Scott was coming to save him, even as he entered his years of adulthood. Because Scott was his older brother and he would never let any monsters get him.

Well, apart from the woken-to-early-in-the-morning-Virgil-monster, now not even the fearless Scott Tracy could bring that nightmare to its knees!


End file.
